Digimon Legends
by DigimonDimensions
Summary: A completely different universe to the anime series, eight children must fight alongside their digimon partners to save not just one but many different worlds. Along the way they gain loyal friends, powerful enemies and fierce rivals as they travel through time and space.
1. The Dimensional Rift

The sun was shining, and a cool breeze was blowing through the row of poplar trees and onto the field. Three children, siblings, were playing on a trampoline by a countryside house. Meanwhile, a tremendous crash was emitting from a nearby shed.

"Oh come on!" A twelve-year-old girl was lying in a heap on the musty floor. "Grace? What is it?" Maddie, a little redheaded girl aged nine, was poking her head around the door. "Nothing. I just fell off this stool." Grace replied as she struggled to her feet. "Well, as long as you're alright!" With that Maddie skipped away to join her two brothers on the trampoline again.

Grace emerged from the shed a few minutes later. Now her three siblings were holding races, rolling down the hill. Tom was a dark brown-haired boy who liked to wrestle, a devoted football fan. His twin, Harvey, had slightly paler brown hair and liked to read and run around. He was a fan of a completely different football team to his twin, which caused arguments and fights between the two.

Suddenly, a clap of thunder shook the ground. The sun was covered by a dark grey cloud, which erupted in a flash of forked lightning. "Quick! Everyone, in here!" Grace called, and all three dashed for the rickety wooden shed. As they gazed on in wonder and fear, a huge bolt of lightning struck the treehouse in the walnut tree in the field below!

The storm cleared as quickly as it had started. A soft glow emitted from the treehouse door, and Tom dashed over to see. "Guys! You really have to see this! Come quick!" he yelled. Grace was first to join him, and in the centre of the wooden floor was an amazing sight: four little machines or devices, each with two little windows. One held a screen and the other a glowing symbol, each of them different. "Uhh... What are these, Tom? Some little game you found?" asked Harvey. "Oh shut up! They obviously came in the lightning bolt!" "Liar!" "Liar yourself!" Meanwhile Grace was inspecting them. There was some strange feeling that these devices were meant for them.

She closed her fingers around and picked up one of the four, which was a shiny metallic orange. There was lining on the edges coloured purple, and some silver buttons below the screen. She pressed the middle button cautiously; the screen flickered, lit up and beeped once. "Uhh... Guys? Have a look at this!" "What? We're in the middle of an argument here!" Tom grumbled. "Try picking one up. Just do it, for goodness sake!" Maddie gently lifted one presumed to be hers, which was white and light green.

"Wow, it's so light! What is it?" Grace didn't reply; on her screen was an egg, an orange one with purple jagged stripes. "Tom! Harvey! Press the middle button!" Tom went for the one coloured golden brown that had black strips. Harvey grabbed the green and blue one, and as they pushed the button eggs materialized on their screens. "This... is not like any game I've ever seen!" Tom whispered. Maddie gazed in wonder at her egg which had begun to shake.

A low rumble shook the treetops. "Did you guys hear that?" Harvey gasped. "Yes... the ground shook!" Maddie replied. "Don't be silly, you two, we're not on the ground!" "Oh shut up Grace, we heard it! You were too busy fiddling with that machine to notice!" Tom shouted. CRACK! A plank in the floor split in two and fell away into some sort of dimensional rift; Grace leant in closer to look as some more splintered. "LOOK OUT!" she yelled as the floor, and all four of the children, collapsed inwards into the vortex!


	2. The Digital World

"Puni! Puni puni!" A small voice drifted into Grace's head as she slowly regained consciousness. "Puni!" A small red blob-like creature was the first thing she saw as she opened her eyes. "I…must be dreaming…" She struggled to her feet and fingered her device, safely tucked away in her pocket. "Puni! Puni!" "Nope! The blob's still there, this isn't a dream!" She picked up the thing, which squirmed in her arms. On her device, the egg had cracked in half. "Oh, so you must have hatched from my egg!" "Puni puni!" A rustling in the bushes behind her indicated the arrival of one of her siblings.

"Grace! Look at this! My egg hatched, and now there's a cute green thing following me around! Look!" Maddie burst out of the bush with a big grin on her face. At her side hopped a little green sphere-like creature with one green horn and a long tail. "Zeri! Zeri!" it squeaked. Grace's blob hopped down to greet it. "Puni!" "Zeri!" Suddenly a shrill scream arose from the bushes. "Definitely Harvey!" Maddie sighed.

"There's a thing! There's a thing! It's following meeeee!" Harvey came hurtling out of the bush with a teardrop-shaped thing hopping after him, squeaking 'Pichi!' as it went. "Save me! It's gonna kill me!" He thrust it onto the floor where it lay, quivering. "Harvey! Now you made yours cry!" Grace scolded. Indeed, his hatchling was on the verge of a total breakdown. Tears were already pouring down its face. "What do you mean, MINE?!" "It came out of your egg. Have a look!"

With Harvey all happy again and his blob not-so-tearful all that was left was to find Tom. It didn't prove to be that hard since a little creamy-yellow squidgy thing with a red horn burst out of the shrubbery. "Fufu, where are you? Come back!" called Tom's voice. "Fufu! Fufu!" the thing called, rocking back and forth. Moments later Tom thrust himself through a hole in the hedge, then scooped up his blob and greeted the rest happily.

Grace was once again pressing the buttons. She scrolled between settings and screens, before one showed an image of her blob on it! She immediately pressed the middle button and a beeping noise was emitted from the device. The picture changed and distorted, while her blob was enveloped in a white light. Maddie, who had been watching over her shoulder, did the same and 'Zeri' did the same. Now the boys tried to a similar result, but Grace's was the first to emerge. It now looked like an orange, deflated beach ball with a spike out of the top of its head and a white face. "Hello!" it said.

"Ermm... Hi?" Her new-and-improved blob hopped into her arms. "I'm Tsunomon!" it told her. Meanwhile the others were beginning to emerge: Maddie's looked like a jelly gone wrong, Tom's looked like a baby serpent and Harvey's was practically a floating sea lion with a flame-like thing on its head. "Pleased to meet you!" they said.

"Right, question one: What exactly are you?" "We're digimon, and your partners!" "Secondly, what are your names?" "I'm Gummymon!" replied Maddie's. "My name is Kyokyomon." Tom's said. "I'm called Bukamon!" laughed Harvey's sealion. "Well, we're pleased to meet you at any rate!" Grace finished the questioning and picked Tsunomon up. "We ought to get moving. We can't stay long!"

A rustling in the shrubbery behind them startled their digimon, and they turned around. Behind them stood four more kids, each with their own digimon with them! "You too?" they asked.


	3. Meet the Rookies

The eight children sat around a roaring fire as the sun set, their digimon playing around in the evening light. They didn't know where they were, or how to get home. While they warmed their hands over the flickering flames they introduced themselves. "My name's Finn, and this is Tokomon. Me and my friends were swapping cards in the local park, when we heard thunder. We dashed for cover, then a bolt of lightning struck a tunnel in the little kids' area. When we looked, we found these!" The new children held out their devices and showed them.

"I'm Cassie, and my partner is Chicchimon." said a girl with long blonde hair. A chick-like digimon flapped around at her heels, long tail waggling. "My name's Jenna and this little guy is Dorimon." Jenna had shoulder-length brown hair and Dorimon was a short, round, purple little thing that rushed round and round the camp, snapping at the fire. "I'm Sam! This is Shippimon!" Sam wore a bandana around his brown hair, and Shippimon hopped around using his purple tail which was shaped like a hammer at one end. "It's nice to meet you guys. We should all get some rest now, though." Grace advised.

As the group settled down to sleep, Dorimon's ears pricked up and he wriggled out of Jenna's arms. "Dorimon? What is it?" Her digimon growled, his eyes fixed on the bushes behind them. "Everyone! Wake up! Dorimon's seen something!" Indeed her digimon kept staring, his stumpy tail bolt upright. A gigantic roar erupted from the shrubbery nearby, and everyone leapt to their feet. "Dorimon! Get back!" Jenna cried as her partner rushed towards the sound. Moments later he came flying out of the bushes where he landed in a heap on the floor. "Dorimon! Get up!" cried Jenna.

The roar shook the ground once again, but this time a gigantic digimon came with it! "Oh no, Grizzlymon!" cried Tsunomon, but Kyokyomon stopped him. "It can't be. Look, it's all white!" "Maybe it's an albino Grizzlymon?" "Oh shut up!" The Grizzlymon stood up on its hind legs and roared again, an evil glint in its eyes. "_Bubble Blow_!" Pink bubbles streamed out of Tsunomon's mouth and burst upon impact with Grizzlymon. He roared in anger and swatted the little digimon away with his paws. "Tsunomon!" Grace cried. Tokomon, resembling a little rabbit, opened his mouth for the first time. Two rows of razor sharp teeth and pink gums were in full view, and he sprung forwards to tackle the big digimon. "Did you know about those teeth?" Maddie asked Finn. "It was a shock to me too when I saw!" he replied.

"Aargh!" cried Tokomon as he was thrust high into the air. He flailed around before he crashed to the floor at his partner's feet. "Tokomon! Are you alright?" Finn exclaimed. Meanwhile the undamaged team members were trying and failing to defeat their formidable foe. "I wonder if there's something in the device that will help?" Grace muttered under her breath. After a while she came to a silhouette of another digimon. It had four legs and multiple tails, plus two long pointed ears. She didn't even hesitate to push the middle button. Tsunomon was enveloped once again in the bright light, where his silhouette morphed and changed. It now matched the picture on the device perfectly!

'Tsunomon…

Digivolve to…

ELECMON!'

Elecmon resembled a rabbit with orange fur, purple markings and nine tails fizzling with electricity. He was a good deal bigger than Tsunomon. The other digimon had now done the same thing, and one by one they were emerging from their glowing spheres.

'Gummymon…

Digivolve to…

TERRIERMON!'

Terriermon looked like a rabbit-dog cross. She had incredibly long ears and a short stumpy tail.

'Kyokyomon…

Digivolve to…

RYUDAMON!'

Ryudamon resembled a warrior armadillo, with plated black armour and golden brown fur. A red gemstone shone behind his antler-like helmet.

'Bukamon…

Digivolve to…

BETAMON!'

Betamon was an amphibian digimon, with one claw on each foot and a large dorsal fin. He had a beaky mouth with serrated teeth.

'Tokomon…

Digivolve to…

TSUKAIMON!'

Tsukaimon was a small dark purple digimon, with ears like wings that he could use to fly. He had short stumpy legs on the underside of his body.

'Dorimon…

Digivolve to…

DORUMON!'

Dorumon had a bushy tail like a squirrel, sharp claws and long legs. In between two pointed ears was a gemstone like Ryudamon's.

'Chicchimon…

Digivolve to…

PENGUINMON!'

Penguinmon was, in a word, a penguin. That's all there is to say about him. Seriously.

'Shippimon…

Digivolve to…

GUMDRAMON!'

Gumdramon was a small purple dragon with a hammer on the end of his tail. He had small, yellow, fully functional wings and a cheeky attitude.

'Super Thunder Strike!' Elecmon cried as he unleashed a wicked thunderbolt from his tails. 'Bunny Blast!' Terriermon created a burst of energy from her mouth, which hit Grizzlymon full in the face. 'Tera Burst!' Ryudamon scattered the big bear digimon with explosions. 'Beta Slugger!' Betamon leapt up and smashed Grizzlymon with his dorsal fin, followed by Tsukaimon's 'Wing Twister' attack! Dorumon's 'Metal Cannon' sent a sphere of metal straight into the enemy's face, then Gumdramon used 'Jacked Hammer'. Finally Penguinmon created a beam of ice and thrust it at the foe, 'Ice Prism'. The Grizzlymon collapsed backwards, overwhelmed by the simultaneous attacks. As it fell its white fur faded to black, and a plume of suspicious green fog rose into the air. The digimon celebrated in their victory, and greeted their partners happily. "Don't you think we should get to sleep? It's late, you know!" warned Elecmon cheerfully. "Good idea. I'll set up camp!" Maddie replied, Terriermon swinging from her shoulders.

"Elecmon?" "Yeah?" "Good night." "You too." As the moon rose high in the sky, Grace wondered; why had the digimon attacked them? And what was that green fog?


	4. DigiMerge to Rairomon

"Come on, you guys, rise and shine! You'll be in trouble if a digimon catches you unaware in the morning!" Cassie groggily sat up. "Yes, Penguinmon, but there's no need for the wake-up slap!" As he raised his flippers to awaken Sam he stopped and waddled back over to his partner. "Sorry! It's what I'm used to doing!" Sam woke up, confused by all the noise, and Gumdramon followed.

"Jenna, should I get breakfast?" "Good idea Dorumon, try and get plenty!" As she went off to gather food for the team Ryudamon lit a fire with his 'Tera Burst'. It was their first morning with their partners in this form, and things were a little tense around the camp, especially with Tom and Ryudamon. 'Fufu' was cute and all, but here he was partnered up with a powerful dragon/armadillo warrior. He felt tense, and nervous.

"Umm, guys? We can't stay in this woodland forever! Why don't we move on?" suggested Finn. Nods of approval went around, along with one or two yawns. "Wait! Dorumon's not back yet and she's hunting for food! We can eat first!" Jenna blurted. "Well then, it's settled. We wait for food, possibly cook it if it's inedible, and set off south. OK?" Grace sighed. It seemed like forever since they'd been at home.

When Dorumon returned she was dragging a large leaf behind her piled high with nuts, berries, mushrooms, and a few fish. "Well done, Dorumon! I didn't know you had it in you!" Grace said. Dorumon blushed slightly and hid behind Jenna's legs. Elecmon was already delving in deep, pulling out a salmon almost his own body weight and dragging it under a tree to pull the scales out. Terriermon tried to balance nuts on the tips of her ears, and laughed when they fell off. Betamon was trying his hardest to be first there but got trampled by Gumdramon and Penguinmon on their way over!

Dorumon looked up from her fish and pricked up her ears. Something was moving in the bushes, rustling as it went. Her keen eyes could pick out a silhouette, one that closely resembled a ferret in shape. She approached to see what it was, but with the tinkling of a little bell it was gone. 'Weird! I thought it would have attacked us by now if it was hostile, though…' thought Dorumon as she cautiously turned back to her breakfast. She still kept an ear out for bells, though.

"So, have you had enough? Elecmon? Earth to Elecmon, WAKE UP!" Grace's digimon was so sound asleep he was near to a coma. It seemed Gumdramon's tail was the only effective method available at the current point in time, so they carried on walking with Elecmon now bearing a large lump on his head. Dorumon was still tensely glancing around for signs of that digimon again.

"So which way are we headed for, guys?" Finn asked. "Grace said south." replied Harvey. "OK, but which way is south? We've no map, nor a compass!" "Wait! I have this keyring on my purse! It has a thermometer and compass on it!" cried Maddie, producing a round leather purse with a cat face on it from her pocket. She emptied it into her lap, revealing many things including a silver necklace, a pink friendship bracelet with 'Maddie & Janey' embroidered on it, a few copper coins and, finally, a keyring attached to the inside. It was purple with a compass in the middle, and a thermometer on the other side.

"Hold it horizontally, or it won't work." Maddie flipped the compass so she was looking down at it. Everyone leaned over to look as it spun around and around in an endless circle. "Finn? While we watch this weird thing work, what exactly is a 'south'?" Tsukaimon asked curiously, landing on his partner's head. "Maddie, do you know what Tsukaimon asked me? He asked what a 'south' is. Do you even think compasses work here?" Finn whispered in her ear. "Ermm… you have a good point there, everyone's watching as it just spins!" Grace spoke up. "At least that makes us sure of something… that we're not even on Earth anymore!" "Grace… What's Earth? Is it the dirt sort of earth? You came from the dirt?" Elecmon was a very curious digimon.

"You know what, Elecmon? I'm going to call you 'the Curious one'. Because that's what you are, through and through!" Grace laughed, before rattling on with an as detailed as possible definition of the planet Earth. "So, that's where we live, and where our parents and friends are. It's where we were born!" "What exactly is a parent? And there are even more humans than you?" "Of course there are! There must be millions!" "Yes, but what are parents?" "Oh brother…"

With no compass to guide them they set off in a random direction, walking for hours with no sign of anything else than thick jungly forest. Suddenly, Betamon's dorsal fin perked up even more and he took a deep breath. "I smell… the OCEAN!" he yelled excitedly; he leaped off of Harvey's shoulder and ran – well, squirmed – faster than he'd ever squirmed before down the path. When everyone else caught up he was leaping into the ocean and swimming far from the shore. Penguinmon picked up his pace and dived in after him, where he swam with speed and skill. Soon after Betamon returned with a big grin on his face, water dripping down his fin.

Sam was whacking a vending machine lying randomly on the sand, not expecting anything except maybe a coke to come out, but instead a glowing, shimmering stone appeared in the tray. Its colours rippled slightly then an arrow materialised on its smooth surface. "Hey! Guys! Check it out! An arrow!" Gumdramon, enthusiastic as ever, dashed over to see. "What is that? Hey, why don't we follow it?! "Great idea! Over there, see? That looks like a chasm of some sort!" With the other kids now in tow, they wandered over to the cave.

Above the entrance was a symbol, carved deep into the cliff face. As they approached it the symbol in the top window of Grace's device began to glow golden, and Elecmon wandered inside the cave. "Grace! Come in! There's some sort of chip, or card, or thing in the rock!" Before Grace could get inside Sam shoved her aside and dashed into the cavern. "I found the cave! It should be for me!" he muttered as he knocked Elecmon off the rock, revealing a thing resembling an SD card. He gripped it with two hands and attempted to yank it out with sheer force, and failing. As he was gearing up for the final pull Grace walked casually past, eased the chip out with two fingers and tucked it into her pocket. "Brute force isn't always the answer, you know!" she laughed.

"Harvey! HARVEY! There's a big digimon! Even bigger than the last one! It's in the water over there!" Betamon was frantically squirming over the sand to reach them, obviously in a panic. Behind him, splashing through the ocean, was a gigantic green lobster-like digimon much bigger than Grizzlymon. With a swipe of his giant claws aquatic digimon went flying, soaring through the air and erupting in plumes of blue data. We'll sort him! Wing Twister!" Tsukaimon created a tornado with his wings in mid-air and launched it at the brute, where it bounced off and disintegrated. With a roar of fury he blasted the little digimon away with a jet of water, followed by all of the others. Soon only the humans were left standing.

"…Grace! The chip… Put it in your digivice!" Elecmon groaned from where he lay, crumpled, beneath the cliff face. "What on earth is a digivice!?" Grace shouted, but she already seemed to know. From her pocket she took the chip and inserted it into the bottom of the machine.

Elecmon was enveloped in a golden light like Tsunomon was, and Grace half-expected him to evolve again. Instead, though, his raw data peeled away and enveloped her. "What's going on!?" she shouted as the others watched, entranced by the light display.

'Elecmon…

DigiMerge To…

RAIROMON!'

When the light cleared Grace was gone. Elecmon was no longer beneath the cliff next to the others. In their place stood another digimon that looked like a very large wolf, with a thunderbolt shaped horn on its nose and nine tails the same shape. Jagged stripes criss-crossed its body and its front teeth were sharp as knife blades. "Guys? If you don't mind me asking… Where did Grace go?" Harvey said tensely. "Are you stupid? She's that wolf digimon! She and Elecmon must have fused together! That is so awesome!" shouted Tom. "I wonder what we could become, Terriermon!" Maddie squealed excitedly. Meanwhile Ebidramon, the lobster digimon out at sea, was alerted by all the noise and began ploughing towards them at a quickening pace!

"THUNDERBOLT STRIKE!" cried Rairomon, leaping into the air before creating a ball of electricity in his tails. With a roar he thrust it into Ebidramon's green face and landed on all four paws. "WOLF TACKLE!" He charged himself up with sparks of electricity and dashed across the shore; at the seafront he leaped into the air and smashed into the big digimon's chest. With one final bellow Ebidramon collapsed into the sea, fading to a dark red tint before swimming away. Once again green mist rose into the air and disintegrated. Rairomon stood on the shore, panting heavily.

With a growl he degenerated back into girl and partner, who promptly collapsed on the shore. Waves lapped at their feet as they staggered up to the cliffs. Sam was completely and utterly gobsmacked. "We should have been doing that, Gumdramon! We found it!" "I completely agree. But hey, there's bound to be more, right? We just have to get ours!" his partner reassured him.

Betamon caught some fish, and Grace ate the most once they had cooked. "Umm, guys? Is it just me or does every digimon we defeat turn into a different colour, release a plume of green gassy stuff and just walk away?" Jenna pointed out. "Hmm. I noticed that too… maybe they're possessed?" Cassie replied. "Whatever's going on, we need to find out. And fix it!" Tom said confidently. "Well, now we have a mission. To find out what's causing this!" Maddie exclaimed.

Behind the tall rocks nearby, a shadow lurked. This time, nobody noticed it – not even Dorumon. A ferret-shaped shadow. "Well, it looks like they're smarter – and stronger - than we thought. Josiah's going to like this a lot!" it muttered. And was gone.


	5. A Rival Team

The white digimon snuck across the seafront, keeping as low to the ground as he could. The first chance he got, he dived behind the jagged rocks near the cliff face. He was still unnoticed, and safe for now. His large ears pricked up once more, and the female with long brown hair was describing the feeling of DigiMerging. He could still hear them. "The fools, talking so loud. They don't know who could be listening!" he chuckled to himself. With that he scurried across the pebbles, heading for the coastal path that led to the overhang above the eight kids.

As he reached the top he could pick out the shadows of seven more beings, four of which were humans. Three digimon already waited beside them, and as he drew nearer he could see all their features. Lunamon, a shy digimon with a sensible attitude, stood by Elli who was a small, quiet girl with short blonde hair. Dracomon, a blue pure-blooded dragon with determination to match, sat on a rock nearby. His partner, Kieran, wore goggles on top of a mop of black hair. And flapping above was DemiDevimon, a dark blue evil-looking digimon partnered to silent-but-deadly Marco. Only Josiah was left over, and that's who the white digimon was headed for.

"Kudamon! So, what did you find?" he asked his partner. "It turns out they have discovered the power to DigiMerge," he said dismissively, checking his claws, "and the brown-haired girl is the only one so far able to utilise it." "Good work, Kudamon. I'm impressed!" Kieran got up and walked over. "What form did she take, though? That's all that matters!" he demanded, leaving Kudamon shaking slightly. "Ummm… a wolf, sir!" he muttered anxiously. Kieran straightened up and returned to Dracomon. "Well, now I'm certain these are the people we want. However, we need to wait until the three remaining chips in this world are found. Then, we wait in the next dimension for them to arrive… and then we separate them!" "But, sir, then won't some of them be defenceless?" Josiah queried. "No matter. We put two able to DigiMerge in with two unable to, as long as they aren't together!" Kudamon shook as Dracomon towered over him.

"But… in the next world there are four of the Cards! They'll use them to digivolve to champion!" Elli butted in. "What did I say!? I'm the leader, you call me 'sir'! And, no matter about the cards. I'm sure Coredramon, Lekismon, Reppamon and Devimon can handle it. Right?" Elli said nothing, but gave a little nod. By a thin tree DemiDevimon and Marco were quietly discussing things only they knew and shared.

"The plan is, that we get into the next world by sundown tomorrow. We set up camp and wait for our chance. When they come through, we strike!" Kieran exclaimed confidently. "But, sir…" "No more 'buts', Josiah! We'll do it!" With that Kieran pulled out two cards from a pouch of his, handing one to Josiah. "Sir, why keep our cards? They belong to us!" "I beat you in a fight. You are now basically mine. That's why I want those other kids!" With a sigh the smaller boy was handed his digivice, swiped the card through the reader and waited.

'Kudamon…

Digivolve To…

REPPAMON!'

Reppamon stood and waited, as was the drill. Kieran began to swipe his own.

'Dracomon…

Digivolve To…

COREDRAMON!'

Marco climbed up Coredramon's scales and settled below the wings. Coredramon was a huge blue dragon with long antler-like horns and ridges along his back. Elli quietly mounted Reppamon, a wolf-like digimon the size of Rairomon with another eye in its blade-like tail. With Kieran sat on his spiny neck Coredramon took off, and Reppamon followed on foot. Keeping his tail-eye on the skies and his others focused on the road, he sprinted towards the ocean on the other side of the peninsula.


	6. Kibbinamon on Ice

"Maddie…. Are we there yet? Maddieeee!" moaned Terriermon as they walked their tenth mile in a day. "I'm thirsty… Maddieee!" "You are a bit of a whiner, aren't you? Water Cannon!" With that comment Betamon shot a blast of water into Terriermon's face. "You said you were thirsty…" giggled Harvey's partner. A very soaked Terriermon shot him a dirty look. "Stop fighting, you two! Ugh, we've barely got anywhere all day!" Tom groaned. "Guys! Everyone! See this! My digivice's symbol is glowing!" Maddie squealed, brandishing a shining digivice in the air with an excited expression on her face. The whole team glanced around for signs of another chip, until Terriermon swung in from a nearby tree. "Maddie! It's for you! This way!"

"Terrier Tornado!" Terriermon enlarged the hollow between two tree roots and Maddie reached inside, groping for a chip. Above the gaping hole, strips of bark were peeled away to reveal an emblem matching that floating in the top of Maddie's digivice. Her fingers touched a small thin thing sticking out of a root and tugged it out of the wood, bringing it up and out. Sam bristled with envy as she stowed it away in her pocket. "I really hope I'll be cute! Like a rabbit, or a mouse, or a kitten!" "Oh come off it, sis! They aren't vicious, or fight-able! Have you ever seen a giant kitty ward off an evil beast?" Tom scoffed. "I bet you'll be a little Rattymon! That'll show you!" she retorted. Tom blushed.

"Penguinmon, I was wondering. Why aren't your attacks as effective against the monsters we fight? That Ice Prism of yours didn't even make them flinch!" Cassie enquired. "Hmm. Look around! See that we're in a tropical forest? I can't fight well here, my strength lies in snow and ice!" her partner replied. "Well, it is a tad hot…" "We should be going towards the cold regions now. Don't worry yourself!" Ahead, Grace scouted for food with Elecmon. "Do you really think this is the way to the Ice Plains, buddy?" she asked. "Positive. It's just through this forest here, another two miles or so left." "Why are the ice plains straight after a jungle?" "Why not? Now you're the curious one!" Elecmon chuckled as he pounced on a crop of black berries, squishing them under his clumsy claws.

As the atmosphere got progressively colder everyone started to shiver slightly, except for Penguinmon who was having the time of his life in the cold air. When the first snowflakes began to fall he was ecstatic! "Ice Prism!" This time instead of creating a mere icicle he froze the whole path, and slid down on his belly with no regard for the humans, other digimon nor how many times they slipped on the track.

Tsukaimon plucked a large leaf from a nearby tree that was still from the tropical parts, then clung on to the stalk as he whizzed after Penguinmon. "Come on, what are you waiting for? Wheeeeeeeeeeee!" With that Dorumon stripped a tree of its bark with her claws, cutting it to size with the sharp tips. She sat upon it and sped after Tsukaimon, laughing hysterically. "Let's try Dorumon's idea! I can't stand all this collapsing on the ice. My bum's getting sore!" moaned Sam as he slipped over for the eleventh time in twenty metres.

So, with eleven more bark sledges zipping down the slope at a quickening pace, they caught up with Penguinmon and sledded to the Ice Plains.

"Whoa, it's so white! And cold…," Cassie shivered. "Is this where you live, Penguinmon?" In reply her partner led them over the crest of the hill where they saw… a village? Hundreds of ice-dwelling digimon wandered around going about their daily business. There were Gabumon, Icemon, SnowAgumon, and other Penguinmon wandering around, plus babies like Chicchimon, Tsunomon, Pagumon and Koromon obviously annoying the others. Around the perimeter stood Frigimon and menacing looking IceLeomon, the latter of which Elecmon was watching curiously.

BOOM! A plume of snow erupted into the air and the team jumped back in alarm. All of the guards sprung forwards to combat the creature behind the explosion, and as the snow cleared it revealed a large black digimon that looked completely out of place on the ice plain. It had blue markings across its body and two blue antlers. It eyes gleamed red, and overall it was much like a moose. "Moosemon! He's attacking! But he's rumoured to defend the plain!" Betamon cried. Moosemon bellowed and charged at one IceLeomon who had drawn his sword. With a crash he tumbled into the snow, completely unprepared. "That's it. We're going into that village!" Grace shouted confidently over the roars and bellows going on below.

"Excuse me? Mr. SnowAgumon? Can you tell us what's going on? Please?" Maddie pleaded to a white dinosaur-like digimon near the marketplace hastily packing up his wares. He stared at the humans for a long time, wide eyed. Suddenly, he yelled, "LOOK, EVERYMON! IT'S THE DIGIDESTINED! THEY'RE HERE TO PROTECT US!" The whole village stormed to the square, with all sorts of digimon shaking hands/paws/wings and making requests. "Wait a minute! We're the digiwhatsits?" The square fell silent. "It means you're here with your partner digimon to fight the Data Hex and protect us!" called a tiny baby Poyomon from within the crowd.

"Right then. What is the Data Hex? Anymon know?" asked Elecmon. "I do! My mummy told me before she died!" called Poyomon again. "Aww, I'm so sorry! Please tell us what it is?" "It's a nasty curse that turns digimon different colours. Then they follow orders from Daemon, and when he doesn't tell them anything they just destroy anything in sight!" he recited from memory. A Patamon, resembling Tsukaimon but orange, stepped up behind his 'son'. "His 'mummy' was another Patamon who was killed by Moosemon recently. He doesn't understand really, poor kid!" he explained. "Hang on. A demon is causing all this?" asked Maddie timidly. "Not a demon! Daemon! Dae-Mon!" "Oh, OK." "So, Moosemon, apparently, was grazing when three travellers were going to ask him to help them. One of them was a stranger who wanted to 'ask' too. At the second Moosemon looked up, the little stranger seemed to swell in size. He became Daemon! He gave the curse to Moosemon, and the others died. Since then IceLeomon and Frigimon have been protecting us from our own guardian!"

A crunching noise shook the hall, and the housed behind where the humans were standing burst into pieces; Moosemon came charging in with a roar that shook the ground. Digimon scattered all over the place, screaming and panicking, as an eerie voice that seemed to come from thin air commanded, "Destroy the Digidestined!" Moosemon raised his great head and bellowed, then charged straight at Maddie! "No!" Terriermon shoved his partner out of the way as Moosemon approached and got struck with his icy horns instead. "Nooooo! Terriermon!" Maddie shoved the chip into her digivice and her partner's limp body began to drift apart.

'Terriermon…

DigiMerge to…

Kibbinamon!'

Instead of a rabbit or a mouse or a kitten, a fox a bit smaller than Rairomon was stood in their place. Two golden bands encircled each ankle, and green stripes zig-zagged across her torso. Her slender build, thin but muscular legs and bushy tail set her apart from her electric counterpart. A roar came from Moosemon's giant mouth, then he charged into… Poyomon! The tiny baby was scooped up, wedged between his antlers. The other Patamon cried out and tried to get his adoptive child out, but in vain – he was tossed away where he collapsed into the snow. "Hand the Digidestined over or the baby gets it!" droned Moosemon, his booming voice devoid of emotion. For a brief moment Kibbinamon got used to her new body, then leaped into action.

"Fox Blast!" An aura of a fox surrounded her body, before leaping straight at the foe. He lowered his head and tossed it away with his antlers. This is going to be tougher than I thought, Kibbinamon realized. "HORN BLADE!" roared her foe, charging with shining antlers. With one stride Kibbinamon feinted to the left before delivering another attack; "Light Burst!" She opened her maw and gathered energy from the sun reflecting off the snow around her, a bright glow enveloping her. In the instant that the radiance was encircling her entire body she released a bright beam from her jaws, which hit Moosemon full in the face!

He staggered back, obviously not finished yet. As he readied his next move Kibbinamon's speed became obvious. "Mach Tackle!" With one bound she became a blur and before Moosemon could attack he was hit hard by a large white shape coming his way, travelling at nearly the speed of sound. He crumpled up on the ice, faded to his native colour and staggered to his feet. "Thank you. You saved my life! As for the child, I cannot unstick him right now. I have hooves, you see, and I am quadruped so I can't really do anything with my feet." "It's Ok! I'll do it!" called his dad Patamon, who flew up and pulled him out. "Thank you, daddy! And you Moosemon!" "I am sorry, child. Forgive me for my troubles. When Daemon is disguised as a rookie form, it is hard to identify him when he comes to call. Anyway, I would be very obliged if you would allow me to go on protecting you and your people!"

The digimon were even warmer towards them after that, if that was at all possible. They loaded the team with food, clothes and supplies for their trek across the plains, as well as a sled-like thing formed from planks of wood welded together with some form of glue. With some rope they attached Kibbinamon and also Rairomon (who had recently DigiMerged) to it, and everyone was good to go! "Wait! Please! Can I come too?" pleaded Poyomon, jumping up and down at the front. "Yes! We'd love to have you!" blurted Cassie before anyone could object, and it was done. He squeaked happily and hopped onto Kibbinamon's back, tugging at her tail. She laughed; Finn lifted him into the sled where he played with Tsukaimon. "Everyone ready? Great, let's go!"

With that Rairomon and Kibbinamon bid the village a fond farewell and sprinted off into the icy wastes, pulling the team behind them.


End file.
